The skyline looked no different in the sun. It had only been abandoned for ten days though.

His clothes were already filthy, but it was easier changing them than hunting for a washing machine. After all, who was left to call him a thief?

He could already smell salt water on the air. The dark ocean would approach closer that night, as though it had been following him.

Soon this city would be swallowed as well. One after another.

Maybe he was the only one left, he mused that night. Maybe he should keep walking and stealing new cars; moving further and further inland. Finding food wasn’t too difficult, and it seemed like the power grids still worked. Maybe they would for just a few more days.

He wondered in silence if is this was any way to live.

Or should he return to the dark shorefront?

It may have moved miles inland each day, but looked exactly the same each time he visited. And the mysterious boat at its brink seemed to move closer as well. No matter how much space the dark ocean expanded onto, no matter how much distance there was between where he was and where he last approached the shoreline, the boat was always somewhere in his line of sight. Waiting for him.

At some point, there may not be any land left. Maybe the ocean was closing in from the other coast as well. There was no way of knowing.

Should he even consider it? If he returned to the shore tomorrow, would it be there again? More than two hundred miles further inland?

Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

But though God Almighty could seal the beasts’ mouths through His divine grace, the wicked Demon himself had placed another in the den’s corner. A being only loyal to evil, to show King Darius the true and sinister outcome of his hasty intentions.

Though it was certainly inconsiderate to ask her to wait, Sister Magdelena’s anger had overtaken her. The moment her snowball struck Sister Rachel in eye, an elated sense of satisfaction poured over Sister Magdelena. She deserved it. That bitch.

‘My God, what have I done…‘ her quiet conscience finally shouted over her hate-filled heart.

And though she apologized profusely throughout the day, a terrible guilt plagued her deep into the night. Sister Rachel could not forgive her, only tremble intensely with fury and resentment further and further into the night.

Had they only known of the dark forces affecting the convent, troubling their minds and manipulating their behavior.

I found two images somewhere on the internet and turned them into a 2-panel comic.

The ancient ceremony played out as had throughout time. Some danced until their feet bled, some sang until their throat went hoarse, some cried until their eyes swelled, some screamed until their minds were free of fear, free of doubt, free of anger.